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Children & Violence

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Children & Violence
INB 180 Computer Games Studies
Assignment One ; Part B
Point of View Assignment

(Astrid, 2011)

Name: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Student Number: nXXXXXXX
Subject: Violence in Games
Topic: The impact of video game violence on adolescents.
Word Count: 2031 words
Due Date: XX/XX/XX

The impact of video game violence on adolescents.
According to Handbook of Children, Culture, And Violence in 1972 the first commercial video game, “Pong” a game based on playing tennis, was introduced (Dowd, Singer & Wilson, 2006, p.226). When Pong became widely available and popular for general public through commercial, many saw the opportunity of making great profit in the video gaming industry and it was then when the technology and creativity was pushed. Financially, video games have exceeded the motion picture industry in sales (Williams, 2002). In the past decades violent video games have stood-out as been successfully marketed and are very popular with male and female children, adolescents, and adults. However, the concerns of the topic that video game violence has the potential of influencing the psychological development of players has been disputed since the mid-1970s, when video games first became available. The issue has been discussed during the past decades amongst both the general community and professionals in the field, and although various research studies have been conducted in to response to this issue, the results are inconclusive and still debated amongst many. The purpose of this essay is to investigate both positive and negative aspects of violent games to determine if video games actually promote violence in real life, or whether media reporting have misled viewers into thinking so. The main arguments put forward in research publications will support my view that video game violence does not promote violent behaviours of adolescents. In fact, research has shown that youth crime rates in the US have decreased since video games

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